Tibetan Uprising

The marchers left their campsite at 7am this morning and walked 18 km to reach Didihat at 1:30pm. They are spending the night in Didihat, at the exact spot where hundreds of Tibetan refugees stayed during their escape from Tibet after the 1959 Uprising.

Many Tibetan refugees remained in the area for about 5 years, doing road construction work, before eventually moving to Dharamsala or one of the other Tibetan settlements. Because of their interaction with Tibetan refugees in the past, many local Indians can still speak some Tibetan language.

With the Himalayas in sight and the history of their current campsite revealed, the marchers feel close to home.

“We are walking on the same road that our Tibetan brothers and sisters took when they were escaping Chinese persecution in Tibet,” said Tenzin Choeying, National Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet, India. “We are returning to Tibet, not because everything is fine there, but precisely because our brethren need our help to end China’s occupation.”